"Ethel Merman" 1956

"Hepburn - Philadelphia Story" 1990

"Vanessa Redgrave" 1997

"Ash Wednesday" 1973

"Whoopi Goldberg" 1984

"The Women" 1973

Hirschfeld's Women

Celebrating Women's History Month

In 2010, the Al Hirschfeld Foundation collaborated with the The Shaw Festival in Canada on a striking installation, “Hirschfeld’s Women,” that gathered together some of the remarkable females that have appeared in Hirschfeld’s work and life. In honor of Women’s History Month, we are sharing the indelible images from that project, along with Louise Hirschfeld’s commentary.

I knew Al Hirschfeld for over thirty-five years before we married in 1996. I had the pleasure of meeting many of the women in these drawings, including several that were his friends. In his drawings, he gave incredible attention to details that would make every person come alive for his audience. In an era before video, his art was like “freeze frame” or stopped motion. Time, like anatomy and perspective, were rules he bent to create works that remain fresh and in the present. The artist has illuminated in these portraits his brilliance as psychic of the drawing board. When he first drew me, I was so nervous that I blushed! How lucky I was to become his third wife. Enjoy these works that come from his love affair with line, along with a few lines of my own.

“Like a Dresden doll, demure, inquisitive, caring with a European sensibility. Dolly was Al’s second wife for over 50 years, and mother of Nina. Lillian Gish, always the great innocent silent film star bravely, conquers new ground in the theater. She and his sister Dorothy were longtime friends of Al’s.”

“A beautiful giant, superb comedienne who invents herself by combining grand gestures with Stanislavsky acting technique and a voice like no other in musical theatre history. She claimed Al’s first drawing of her made her a star.”